Why can't I think of a title this week?

July 5-11
OK, I'm starting to dream about plague now. While I was sleeping the other night, it struck in the department where I work at UT and the faculty started dropping dead, leaving the staff to clean up the mess. Doesn't that just figure? Fortunately, I woke up and everyone was present and accounted for at work.

Rehearsals for One Flea Spare are going very nicely, and I've been writing some incidental music for it. Visit my myspace page and click on "Canticle for a Time of Plague" for a little teaser. Cheery, eh?

Question: is it an impulse purchase when you've been thinking about it for over 15 years? Mr. Ben says it's an impulse purchase because I made the decision and then made the purchase. I say it was anything but impulse since I had been thinking about it for longer than I've known him and finally, finally, finally made the move. Can you even guess what it was I bought? Keep thinking about it, keep guessing, and I'll bet you'll never figure it out. (Except for Anne A who knows.) Keep reading. I'll tell you later.

In the meantime, this week's video features a very young artist (4 years old) with tons of talent.


Thursday, July 5

Matisyahu
The Backyard / 13101 Hwy 71 West; 263-4146 / 6:30 pm; $45-$47
For those who missed him last night, here he is again.

Cornell Hurd
Jovita’s / 1619 S. 1st; 447-7825 / 8 pm (family)

Glovertango
Lambert’s / 401 W. 2nd; 494-1500 / 6:30 pm

Jesse Dayton
Broken Spoke / 3201 S. Lamar; 442-6189 / 9 pm

DJd Swing Dance
The Fed / 24th at San Gabriel / 8 pm
Read all about the Austin Swing Syndicate and their activities.

Marc Devine & Denia Ridley
Reed's Jazz Club / 9901 Cap of TX Hwy; 342-7977 / 8:00 pm


Friday, July 6

First Friday Contradance
Carpenter's Hall / 400 Josephine / 8 pm; $8
Newcomers are invited to come at 7:30 for an introductory session. Then there will be live music by the Flaming Kilts at 8.

Music Under the Star
Bob Bullock State History Museum / 1800 N. Congress / 6 pm; free (family)
This is a great opportunity to hear (and dance to) live music and view the exhibits for free. This week features Papa Mali.

Two Tons of Steel
Continental Club / 1315 S. Congress; 441-2444 / 10 pm; $10

Dale Watson
Nutty Brown / 12225 Highway 290 West; 301-4648 / 7:30 pm; $7 (family)

Ray Benson & Friends
Threadgill’s / 301 W. Riverside; 472-9304 / 9 pm; $10

Mr. Fabulous & Casino Royale
Reed's Jazz Club / 9901 Cap of TX Hwy; 342-7977 / 8:30 pm

Aunt Ruby's Sweet Jazz Babies
Treehouse Italian Grill / 2201 College; 443-4200 / 7:30 pm

Oliver Rajamani
El Sol y La Luna / 1224 S. Congrerss; 444-7770 / 7:30 pm
Having grown up in a house where the bar opened around 10 am and stayed open till bedtime, I find that I'm not much of a drinker. However, put a pitcher of El S y La L's sangria in front of me, and I will make an exception. Add a musician like Oliver Rajamani, and I can find true happiness.

Texana Dames
Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe / 5001 E. Ben White; 444-2020 / 8 pm
Ruben Hernandez and Erik Hokkanen will be sitting in, so you know it will be good (as if the Dames needed any help.).


Saturday, July 7

Albert and Gage Band
Donn's Depot / 1600 W.w 5th; 478-0336 / 9 pm

Lucky Strikes
Reed's Jazz Club / 9901 Cap of TX Hwy; 342-7977 / 8:30 pm

Cornell Hurd
Broken Spoke / 3201 S. Lamar; 442-6189 / 9 pm

Seth Walker
The Fed / 24th at San Gabriel / 8 pm
Austin Swing Syndicate is hosting a blues dance. This is part of their Austin Blues Party weekend which will feature three days/nights of blues dancing instruction. Click the link for full details.

Cerronato
El Sol y La Luna / 1224 S. Congress, 444-7770 / 7:30 pm

The Gourds
Threadgill’s / 301 W. Riverside; 472-9304 / 9 pm; $12 (adv); $15 (door)


Sunday, July 8

Heybale!
Continental Club / 1315 S. Congress; 441-2444 / 10 pm; $6

Gulf Coast Playboys
Guero’s / 1412 S. Congress; 447-7688 / 3 pm (family)

The Brew
The Oasis / 6550 Comanche Trail; 266-2442

Austin Symphony Orchestra
Wooldridge Park / 9th & Guadalupe / 7:30 pm; free (family)
The Sunday evening concerts in the park continue. This week they'll be taking requests for your big band favorites.

Dalel Watson
Ginny’s Little Longhorn / 5434 Burnet Road; 458-1813


Monday, July 9

Django's Moustache; Dale Watson
Continental Club / 1315 S. Congress; 441-2444 / 6:30; 10 pm ($5)

Bayou Cajun Band
Evangeline Café / 8106 Brodie Lane; 282-2586 / 6:30 pm (family)
Fiddler Peter Schwartz will be sitting in this week. NOBODY doesn't love Peter!


Tuesday, July 10

Bayou Cajun Band
Evangeline Cafe / 8106 Brodie Lane / 6:30 pm

DJd Swing Dance
The Fed / 24th at San Gabriel / 9:45 / no cover
Free dance after Four on the Floor’s classes.

Marc Devine & Denia Ridley
Reed's Jazz Club / 9901 Cap of TX Hwy; 342-7977 / 6:30 pm

Erik Hokkanen's Laboratory
Flipnotics / 1601 Barton Springs; 322-9750 / 8:00 pm

Dr. Zog
Alligator Grill / 3003 South Lamar; 444-6117 / 6 pm

Jitterbug Vipers
Lambert’s / 401 W. 2nd; 494-1500 / 6:30 pm

The Lucky Strikes
Belmont / 305 W. 6th; 457-0300 / 6 pm

Chaparral
Broken Spoke / 3201 S. Lamar; 442-6189


Wednesday, July 11

The Brew
Speakeasy / 412 Congress; 476-8017

Marc Devine & Denia Ridley
Reed's Jazz Club / 9901 Cap of TX Hwy; 342-7977 / 7:00 pm

Erik Hokkanen and his Gypsy Tribe
Lambert’s / 401 W. 2nd; 494-1500 / 6:30 pm

Hand Me Down
Flipnotics / 1601 Barton Springs; 322-9750 / 8:00 pm

Mr. Fabulous & Casino Royale
The Belmont / 305 W. 6th; 457-0300 / 6 pm
This is an every Wednesday happy hour.


ROAD TRIPS

Elgin, TX
Sunday, July 8
Vrazels Polka Band
Elgin SPJST Hall / 702 Hwy 95 in Elgin; 512-285-3100 / 3-7 pm
You simply can't go wrong with a Sunday afternoon polka party.

Gruene, TX
Tuesday, July 10
Two Tons of Steel
Gruene Hall / 1281 Gruene; 830-606-1281 / 7:30 pm $4


COMING SOON

Saturday, August 11
Angels Knocking at the Tavern Door
Texas School for the Deaf Auditorium / 1102 S. Congress / 7 pm; $15/$30/$50
This is going to be a wonderful evening of music (Mundi and Kourosh Taghavi) and poetry (Coleman Barks and Robert Bly). If you missed Coleman Barks when he was here a couple of years ago, you really, really, really missed something. Get tix here.

Thursdays-Saturdays, August 16-25
One Flea Spare
Dougherty Arts Center / 1110 Barton Springs / 8 pm; $12
"I sat in a theater at the Humana Festival last year, after the closing monologue of ONE FLEA SPARE, unable to move. I had known Naomi Wallace's work well, having directed an earlier play, and I knew she had tremendous talent and promised to great things. Nothing had prepared me--not my admiration for her plays and for her beautiful, harsh, moving, brilliantly political poetry--for the experience of watching this play, which is in my opinion one of the finest works of dramatic literature written here or in England in the last two decades. Utterly without sentiment but possessed of a very great human heart, ONE FLEA SPARE touches upon many things, class and gender and the pressures of a plague upon internal and external human constructs; and, as I read it, most devastatingly it addresses a tragedy of almost inexpressible dimensions: the consequences of the horrors of biology and Capital on the young. As the play draws to its shattering close I was filled with thoughts of the children of Sarajevo and Rwanda and the slums of America. `Almost' inexpressible except in the hands of a true poet, and Naomi Wallace so magnificently proves herself to be. Her ability to articulate the inarticulable, grief and loss and suffering beyond endurance, is a source of hope; as is the resilience and passion of the marvelous characters she's assembled. Everyone who loves the theater should read this play. It has made me INTENSELY envious and very full of joy." --Tony Kushner (playwright, "Angels in America")
For reservations call 512.708.1893 or email reservations@gobotrick.org.

AFTERTHOUGHT

It was a medeival hurdy-gurdy! My "impulse" purchase of 15+ years worth of deliberation was a hurdy-gurdy! Can't wait for it to get here!

see ya on the dance floor,
chris